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April 21, 2013

More Than A Medal Could Offer

“You are more than your grades.” It
was a mantra that one of my high school moderators would constantly tell a
class of competitive honor students. It was supposed to soothe us somehow,
because unsatisfactory grades made us feel inadequate and would earn us a
scolding from some of our parents. I never really understood his point when he
told us that. To be honest, I thought it was too good to be true.

For one, as much as you want to be more than your grades, you
can’t erase the fact that students are measured by the marks in their report
cards. We spent years being praised because of high grades and chastised when
they are “not good enough.” Why else would we think that grades weren’t an
integral part of our existence?

It was only in college that I began
to understand what our moderator was trying to inject into our grade-conscious
minds back then. The realization didn’t just hit me when I woke up one morning
though. It actually came in a more pleasant way—through the smiles of children.
I have to admit that even if I’ve spent 16 years in the university that I’m
studying in, I have such a love-hate relationship with it. Sometimes, I wonder
why I did not pursue a future outside of the walls of the school that I
practically grew up in. On the other hand, there are also times when I feel as
if I made the right decision—that this was my home after all. One of these
instances was when I was exposed to the Akay Kalinga Centre for Street
Children.

At first, I didn’t look beyond
assisting a non-government organization for one of my Development Communication
subject. The original plan was to do my part and earn a grade. That was it.
Besides, I was never good with children. This is why I was surprised when the
kids at the center slowly wriggled their way inside my heart with their genuine
smiles and happy dispositions. In the middle of our stay there, a friend of
ours who’d accompany us to the centre from time to time decided to comment on
the things we did and had in mind for the organization.

“You know, that’s not part of your
job anymore.” He said.

I didn’t think twice. Somehow, I
already knew what to tell him. “We know. We just want to do it.”

We reached a point where whatever
grade we’d earn didn’t matter anymore. Even after we completed the required
hours of service, we found ourselves using our semestral break to shoot a
documentary about street children. It was one of the wishes of the overall head
of the center, yet we didn’t have the time to do it during our “official” hours
there. Instead, we found time to fulfill his request even after the semester
had already ended.

I’d like to think our documentary
entitled, “Sino?” was not just made of the usual “blood, sweat and tears”. So
much more was put into that film. It was a mix of a number of sleepless nights,
a limited budget due to not having allowance during semestral break and of
course, a trio of determined souls willing to sacrifice almost anything to see
the smiles of the kids in the organization. Though it only made it as an entry
to the 8th Mindanao Film Festival without garnering any awards, I
was somehow still proud because we fulfilled one of the goals we stated in the
Development Communication plans that we submitted to our instructor. That goal
was recognition. The first step to
helping out an organization like Akay Kalinga is to help spread the word about
it. Through the documentary, I’d like to think we somehow did that. I hope that
even if it wasn’t good enough for the Best Documentary Film award, it was still
able to fulfill its purpose.

“Sino?” was shown in a mall in Davao
City. Xeng, Mico and I were worried at times because we weren’t sure if there
would be people who would be willing to watch our film. Even if, by any chance,
there were only a few people in the cinema, I really hope that we were able to
reach them, to tug at their heartstrings and to help them realize that there
are less fortunate kids out there who need our help.

Of course, even after the film
festival, we couldn’t just stop at that. We organized a Christmas-themed
project especially for the kids called the Secret Santa Project. It was
difficult to be contented with what we’ve done for them. The thought of all those
little children smiling up at us whenever we visited made my heart swell.
Seeing them happy was more than enough as compensation. As some people might
put it, their joy was priceless.

Though only a few people heeded our
call for donations, we were still able to bring joy to the kids of Akay
Kalinga. We are forever grateful to the kind people who were moved by our
amateur advertising attempts through a few posters in school and a couple of
weeks of reposting about our cause on various social networking sites. It was
all worth it though. The glee that was present in their faces the moment they
opened their presents made everything worthwhile.

As I stood there in the middle of a
small crowd of kids laughing and smiling with their presents in their little
hands, I suddenly remembered one of my favorite Religion teachers. Back in high
school, he shared to us a meaningful quote, “Happiness
is a perfume you cannot pour on otherswithout getting some on yourself.”
At that very moment, I finally understood what he meant. I realized that, even
if we hate school at times, we will eventually be able to apply the things we
learned before—maybe not everything, but maybe the lessons that matter most.

Graduation came and went. Before the
event, most people worried over their WPAs and the points they earned from
extracurricular activities. After all, who wouldn’t want to march out of
graduation with a neck that’s strained by a bunch of medals? To be honest,
16-year old me would be delighted at the idea of it. Right now, I’m just glad
that I was able to touch the lives of others and vice versa. I may have graduated
without any special awards or citations, but I’m quite content with the fact
that I found something that was worth far more than any medal out there.

Wrote this in January in time for graduation. I had some plans for this write-up, but they never materialized. Posting it while it's still (semi-) relevant.